This invention relates to the transfer of an elongated substantially cylindrical body such as a roll of carpet or the like from one vertical level laterally to a second vertical level, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for conveying a roll of carpet in an inclined path between two stations in a continuous manner.
In a carpet mill, rolls of carpet during various operations are transferred from one location in the mill to another. For example, after a length of carpet is wound about a core and covered by a wrapping, it is transported to a distribution station where it is stored or shipped. In the past, the transportation of the rolls between the various stations was performed by lifting and carrying the rolls by fork lifts or similar manually movable means More recently, especially in at least the larger mills, in order to reduce the production costs, minimize the number of necessary fork lifts, and the required time for transporting the rolls of carpet, the trend has been to utilize conveyor systems.
However, because conveyors normally require a substantial amount of floor space and impede the movement of personnel and equipment, such as fork lifts utilized for other operations, the conveyor systems comprise a series of conveyors, one of which being inclined for carrying the rolls from a first conveyor or other apparatus on the mill floor to an elevated conveyor spaced above the floor for transfer to other elevated conveyors. The area below the elevated conveyors may thus be utilized for the other operations. However, since a roll of carpet would roll down an inclined conveyor if transferred with its axis extending transverse to the direction of conveyance, the inclined conveyors are constructed so that the axis of elongation of each roll is aligned with the direction in which the rolls are transported. Thus, for example, when a roll of carpet is to be transferred between two spaced apart substantially parallel conveyors, a roll placed upon the inclined conveyor must be rotated at the upper elevation by a pivotable conveyor receiving the roll from the inclined conveyor and transferred to a first elevated conveyor extending substantially 90 degrees to the inclined conveyor and generally to the destination conveyor. Moreover, the roll must again be rotated 90 degrees to be received onto such destination conveyor. Accordingly, in this example, a pivotable conveyor is required not only between the inclined conveyor and the adjacent elevated conveyor, but between the two elevated conveyors.
The deficiencies of such a system is that each time the pivotable conveyors are operated, the line must be stopped to permit the pivotable conveyors to rotate from their initial roll receiving positions to their discharge positions, and then back again to the initial position. The cycle time for this maneuver generally is in the order of approximately 45 seconds, and when considering the number of carpet rolls produced daily in the large carpet mills, this comprises a considerable waste of time. Other examples of the deficiencies of the utilization of inclined conveyors result in an ineffective utilization of the space between the initial conveying station and the final conveying station. Accordingly, not only do the inclined conveying systems require a substantial amount of space for certain conveying operations, but they are also functionally inefficient when the axis of the roll must be rotated due to the parameters created by the inclined conveyors i.e., the axis of the roll must extend in the same direction that the roll is being conveyed.